Keep on breathing ... Notes from TEDMED 2010 (part 1)

TEDMED 2010 kicked off last Tuesday night with a performance by opera singer Charity Tilleman-Dick. At first I thought, "Well, she has a lovely voice, but what does that have to do with anything?" Then she started to tell her story, and what an incredible story it is. In short, Charity is still alive—and able again to perform—as a result of the double lung transplant she received more than a year ago at the Cleveland Clinic. (It turns out that her appearance at TEDMED marked the one-year anniversary of her waking up from her post-surgical coma. Thanks for celebrating with us!)

I attended TEDMED to learn about some of the most exciting developments in science, technology, and medicine. Exploring these signs of change is part of what I do in my day-to-day life as a researcher at IFTF. But listening to Charity reminded me of what's really important to remember when thinking about the future of health. It's about the people whose lives are going to be affected by the incredible advances that are being made in S&T.

The thoracic surgeon who followed Charity wowed us with one such advance. Dr. Shaf Keshavjee and his team at Toronto General Hospital wheeled out a living, breathing—yes, literally breathing!—pig's lung that had been harvested earlier in the day. It was hooked up to a heart-lung machine that was rigged to work in reverse; rather than delivering oxygenated blood to a heart, it was delivering an acellular CO2 solution to the lung. Keshavjee reported that this lung preservation technique has lead to significant improvements in lung function after transplantation. He is also actively working on gene therapy techniques to genetically modify the donor lung to repair damage and improve its ability to survive the stress of the transplantation process.

This was but the first of many fascinating TEDMED 2010 presentations. More notes to follow.